The Appeal Joins Truthout: A New Chapter Begins

We’re thrilled to share that Truthout is taking over The Appeal’s journalism. With Truthout’s powerhouse reputation for independent, reader-funded journalism, our reporting on overpolicing and mass incarceration will continue and reach even wider audiences. 

The Appeal launched over seven years ago with a clear mission: to spotlight the human cost of the criminal legal system and push the conversation toward justice and accountability. In 2021, we were shut down just weeks after unionizing. But we came back stronger as a worker-led, nonprofit newsroom committed to the same purpose.

Since then, we’ve published more than 500 articles, commentaries, and newsletter columns, including powerful work by incarcerated writers. Our stories have prompted federal investigations, legislative testimony, and national media appearances. Our newsroom has inspired other journalists to build worker-led organizations. We’ve been honored by the Institute for Nonprofit News, LION Publishers, and the Prison Journalism Project for our contributions to public-interest journalism.

But impact alone isn’t enough to sustain a newsroom. Even with dedicated reader and funder support, The Appeal has been operating on a shoestring budget. With that reality in mind, we made the difficult decision to end this chapter of The Appeal and part ways as a team.

The good news: The Appeal lives on! The Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism will carry forward and expand our work with a new monthly newsletter and original reporting, including work by incarcerated journalists and deep-dive investigative projects. “The Appeal has long played a pivotal role in shining journalistic light on the criminal legal system’s inherent injustices–and illuminating creative paths forward,” said Maya Schenwar, director of the Truthout Center for Grassroots Journalism. “We’re extraordinarily grateful for this work and are honored to help steward The Appeal’s next steps.” Policing, surveillance, and incarceration are some of the primary vehicles through which fascism is implemented and enforced. As such, this moment is an absolutely crucial one for The Appeal.

We hope you will keep reading The Appeal – and keep supporting our work, so we can publish in this renewed form for many years to come! You can contribute here to help us continue. 

To our readers, funders, writers, partners, advisors, and board members: thank you. We could not have done any of it without you. Special thanks to our core team—Anna Simonton, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Ethan Corey, Jerry Iannelli, Meg O’Connor, Molly Greene, Nick Wing, and Tara Francis Chan—who poured every drop of blood, sweat, and tears they had into making The Appeal run, Christopher Blackwell for his continued brilliance from inside the system, and Josie Duffy Rice, our indomitable board president.

And finally, deep gratitude to Maya Schenwar, Ziggy West Jeffery, and everyone at Truthout. We’re excited to see what’s next!

The mission continues.